No organization is perfect, and the bigger it is, the more room there is for a PR faceplant.
There are simple ways to make up for blips, though. Take Buffalo’s NFL team, which likely deepened the loyalty of existing fans and created lifelong new ones when team owner Terry Pegula honored 5,369 people who were involved in building the Bills’ new stadium.
Contractors will be able to point to the $2.1 billion Highmark Stadium and show off their work. They’ll tell family and friends, “I helped build that.” Including their names on a building that millions of people will visit has the power to make them feel personally invested in the Buffalo Bills and other events held there.
Highmark Stadium’s naming rights belong to Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield of Western New York (keep that fact in your hat for future trivia games). The new 62,000-seat structure replaces an older stadium with the same sponsor across the street.
Was Pegula’s bold and visual “thank you” a brilliant PR move? Absolutely. But it comes with big returns. It brings every construction worker into the team’s fold and makes them feel appreciated long after the project’s complete. When people feel valued, they walk a little taller and aren’t shy about bragging about their work. That’s PR that will pay off for years.
Names of more than 5,000 construction workers grace a wall of the Buffalo Bills’ new stadium.
PR SIDEeffect: With a simple visual gesture of recognition, the Pegula family made stadium contractors unofficial members of the Buffalo Bills. Show people who work on your projects that they matter not just today, but years into the future, with something like collectible art created with names. Or choose something bolder if your project happens to be a stadium. (I already suggested a version of this to a PR client with a build in progress. What do you think? Shoot me a note.)
The Bills honored 5,369 workers who built their new stadium, turning a construction project into a lasting story of recognition and loyalty.
AI Explainer (Mark Manson, author of The Subtle Art for Not Giving a F&ck): “… outsourcing your writing to AI is a one-way ticket to destroying your voice and originality.”
©2026 Gail Sideman; gpublicity.com; SIDEbar
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